The Man Who Knew Infinity | Rotten Tomatoes

The Man Who Knew Infinity

PG-13

Released Apr 29, 2016

1h 54m

Biography

History

Drama

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The Man Who Knew Infinity: Trailer 1

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Tomatometer

132 Reviews

71%

Audience Score

10,000+ Ratings

In 1913, brilliant East Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel) travels to Trinity College in England to work with professor G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons).

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Critics Consensus

The Man Who Knew Infinity might be a tad too conventional to truly do its subject justice, but Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons elevate the end result beyond mere biopic formula.

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Udita Jhunjhunwala

Livemint

The Man Who Knew Infinity is moving, but not as compelling as the real life story of the genius it celebrates. The definitive film on Ramanujan remains to be made...

Aug 15, 2019

Full Review

Roxana Hadadi

Chesapeake Family Magazine

Conventional biopic The Man Who Knew Infinity focuses less on its protagonist, the Indian mathematician S. Ramanujan, than on the Brits who worked with him.

Rated: 2.5/5

Aug 2, 2016

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Marsha Lederman

Globe and Mail

When one of the most enlightening moments of a film comes during the postscript (black holes!), you know there's a problem - one that has nothing to do with math.

Rated: 2/4

May 20, 2016

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Olly Richards

NME (New Musical Express)

It feels too often like an exam for which we haven't studied.

Rated: 2/5

Jun 8, 2021

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Richard Crouse

Richard Crouse

A bit by the numbers but nonetheless deserves a place on the shelf between A Beautiful Mind and The Imitation Game .

Rated: 3/5

Feb 3, 2021

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

A deeply intelligent film that doesn't shy away from its intelligence.

Rated: 3.5/4.0

Sep 15, 2020

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Jalene P

Similar vein to other academic favorites like A Beautiful Mind, Oppenheimer and Good Will Hunting. Sad and inspiring---lost another genius far too young. I cant help but wonder is some of the poor reviews may hold some intrinsic biases...

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/06/23

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Reuben M

In the years just before and during WWI, Srinivasa Ramanujan was making major contributions to the world of the mathematics, although many were not fully recognized until late in his brief career. I am not a mathematician myself, so I feel no great shame in admitting that I had never heard of him. But now, with THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY, I am familiar with his story and while I'm not much closer to understanding the math that came to him so easily, I am glad to have learned about him and am glad, in general, that a film was made which will help keep his name out there. In brief, Ramanujan was a self-taught mathematician, a prodigy, living his early adulthood in India, where he essentially hit the top of what he could learn there. Fortunately, some of his work reached British mathematician and Cambridge instructor G.H. Hardy (played here by Jeremy Irons, giving his very best affable Jeremy Irons performance…sincere and with the most beautiful diction. Not a criticism…just saying Irons has perfected this kind of role). The movie spends a lot of time on the obstacles Ramanujan faced (Dev Patel plays him with a somewhat feverish passion. He seems to know his time is limited and is bursting with impatience at everything because he doesn't have the TIME to do things the formal way or the "correct" way). His struggles to get out of India into an institution that might help him grow. His struggles to be together with his wife. His struggles to find food to eat in a society that has no understanding of what a vegetarian is. His struggles to understand the need to PROVE his work. His struggles with pompous Brits who look down their noses at him. And his many struggles with poor health. Don't take from my tone that this isn't a compelling movie. While it is largely peopled with "nerds", these nerds are all very different from each other, and much of the drama comes from the simple clashing of styles. First, between Ramanujan and Hardy, his closest mentor. Patel & Irons have great chemistry and spend a lot of time arguing over the need for these proofs. Ramanujan just KNOWS his ideas are correct; he SEES it clearly in his mind. But he has no training in (and little patience for) the formality of providing proofs that others can see, understand and replicate. Unless these things resonate for you, there will always be a little emotional remove from the subjects under discussion. But Irons and Patel sell the heck out of it, so it's easy to go along for the ride. There's also an interesting relationship between Hardy and his best friend and fellow mathematician, John Littlewood (the always excellent Toby Jones). The cast is peppered with other terrific actors such as Stephen Fry and Jeremy Northam, so if you're a fan of Brit-heavy drama, this film feels like a warm comforter thrown around you. Lots of British wit, and stiff-upper lip reserve and lovely scenery. Patel bursts through all this like a bull in a china shop (though a sickly one) and it does make for some low key fireworks. It's far from the best bio-pic out there, but it's a very solid, engaging, interesting and well-crafted film that I encourage anyone to seek out. The main characters deserve to be remembered, and the film deserves to be seen.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/24/23

Full Review

Emma W

A good effort at championing a genius who should be as well known as Stephen Hawking. Definitely worth a watch and leaves you wanting to know more about his life and accomplishments.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/02/23

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Nicolas P

All the parts of the movie felt bad executed.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

08/20/23

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Kerry W

Rating: 7/10. 71/100

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/12/23

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Ian W

Pretty straight forward telling of an Indian maths genius and his trials and tribulations at Cambridge. Not great. Not bad. Well scripted and acted.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

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Matthew Brown

Director

Dev Patel

Srinivasa Ramanujan

Jeremy Irons

G.H. Hardy

Devika Bhise

Janaki

Kevin R. McNally

Major McMahon

Jeremy Northam

Bertrand Russell

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The Man Who Knew Infinity: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

In 1913, brilliant East Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel) travels to Trinity College in England to work with professor G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons).

Director: Matthew Brown
Producer: Masaaki Tanaka, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Mark Montgomery
Screenwriter: Matthew Brown
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Edward R. Pressman Film Corp., Animus Films
Rating: PG-13 (Some Thematic Elements|Smoking)
Genre: Biography, History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 29, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 24, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $3.9M
Runtime: 1h 54m

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